15-02-2013, 04:19 PM
ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS
ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS.pdf (Size: 215.31 KB / Downloads: 39)
Introduction
The State of Ceará is located in the northeastern Brazil, a region that has been
suffering in the last decades with the problem of the drought. This obstacle made a
lot of people migrate to the big cities in the south of the country (CEARÁ, 2001). Till
the recent past, it was not possible to work with agriculture because people didn’t use
the irrigation and it became a risk activity.
At present, the government and some private companies are investing in irrigated
agriculture. Therefore they established that it is an activity that can have big success
generating jobs and increasing the income of the population. The cultures that are
having bigger prominence are the tropical fruits and ornamental flowers (JORNAL O
POVO, 2001).
According to Costa (2000), the flowers are cultivated in mountains, which present a
mild climate and incidence of sun all over the year. These cultivations follow
international standards, but the logistic techniques have not been due applied to
these cases before. This question makes the products not competitive in the local
and in the foreign markets.
This work aims to study the supply chain of ornamental flowers in the State of Ceará.
For this, a case study of a local producing company was carried out. This work is part
of a study that will consist of a research work aiming to obtain a M.Sc. degree.
Objective
The objective of this work is to study the problems presented in the several links and
nodes, which make up the supply chain of ornamental flowers in the State of the
Ceará. It analyses this chain since the acquisition of input till the arriving of the
product at the final consumer. The work considers as case study the CeaRosa, a
Les Quatrièmes Rencontres Internacionales de la Recherche en Logistique
Fourth International Meeting for Research in logistics
roses producing company. Its main problems were detected and some solutions
were suggested.
So, as the problems of a company resembled with the problems of other companies
that produce the same product, this research intends to contribute to make higher the
efficiency of the flowers supply chain also to other region in the State.
The Studied Problem:
an overview
According to Vieira (2001), the cultivation of ornamental flowers is an increasing
activity in the last years in the State of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil. This cultivation
is important for the region’s development, because it creates a lot of rural jobs and,
consequently, the problem of rural migrations can be minimized in that region. This
activity creates 16 jobs/hectare, while other cultivations create 2 or 3 jobs/hectare.
The Ibiapaba Mountain, situated in the western region of Ceará, include a lot of fertile
areas, a mild weather and bright sunlight all over the year. These are good conditions
for the flowers cultivation. A lot of farmers are planting roses and ornamental flowers.
They aim to reach the local market and export to foreign markets (CEARÁ, 2000).
Notwithstanding there are some problems on flower supply chain which reduces the
competitivity of these products. The question is how to improve the supply chain links
in order to make the flowers reach the consumer all over the world with the best
quality and low price.
The study of the supply chain aims to bring out solutions to those specific problems,
which create impedances to the Ceará State development, and to reinforce its
comparative advantages in the global scene.
Methodology
The methodology of the case study is divided in four steps:
1) Literature review: This phase consisted on the analysis of several main works on
logistics and agribusiness. This phase shows solid theoretical basis to the work. Also,
in this stage, the necessary secondary data was collected.
2) Field research – visiting companies: It consisted of visits to the studied company
and other enterprises of the same region. The day-by-day of these companies was
knows and analyzed. In this phase the main problems in the supply chain were
detected.